Books On the Subject: Time Management

Alan Lakein - Get Control

One of the first and best books I read about personal time management was "How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life" by Alan Lakein. Among his many clients has been Neil Diamond, and one of his followers through his book has been Bill Clinton. That should give you some idea of the type of people who have benefited from this book.

This book explains well the "A,B,C" and "1,2,3" method of prioritizing your To Do Lists. In a nutshell, make a list of your things you want to do today. Put an "A" by the items that you MUST do today. Define "must" by asking, "Will not doing this items today cost me money or embarrassment?" If the answer is "yes", it is an "A" item.

Put a "B" by the items that it would be very important that you get done today, but they won't cost you money or embarrassment. Lakein discusses "C" items, but I find that my list usually contains only A and B items, anyway.

Next, go back to the items that are "A" items and number them in the order of which one you can do the quickest. This is different from Lakein's method which is to number them in the order of their importance. I find that, since all "A" items are important, I can better go about accomplishing them by working on the ones that can be done the quickest. All "A" items should be done anyway, and it lessens my stress levels when I can check off tasks I've accomplished.

If you read the book, leave a comment.